About Me

Gregg Walker is a Harlem Resident and 1997 graduate of Yale Law School who worked as an investment banker for 9 years and was the Vice President of Strategy and Mergers & Acquisitions at Viacom for 3 years. Gregg served as the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Sony from 2009 to 2016, and he launched his own private investing firm in July 2016 (www.gawalker.co). Gregg was chosen in 2010 by Crain's as one of NYC's 40 Under 40 Rising Stars (http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/40under40/profiles/2010/gregg-walker). Gregg is a Deacon at Abyssinian Baptist Church and served as the chairman of the Board of the Harlem YMCA. He has served on the Boards of movie studio MGM and music publishing companies Sony/ATV and EMI Music Publishing. He is also a Board member of Harlem RBI and Derek Jeter's Turn 2 Foundation. He is a former Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a representative of the US at the 2002 Young Leaders Conference of the American Council on Germany. Gregg is also a member of many other foundations and community organizations.

Monday, November 14, 2011

NYC Education Tragedy

Tragically, New York City is failing to educate its youth and prepare them for college. Amazingly, the New York City Mayor is now criticizing New York State for its suggestion that our city's education efforts be geared toward preparing students for college.

City Schools Failing

Mayor Bloomberg has had control of our city's schools for a decade, and the results have been very disappointing.

Last week, we learned that New York State's Department of Education has listed 640 of our city's 1,700 schools as "in need of improvement". Many of those schools have received a score of A or B from our city. The disconnect is scary. While the Mayor claims success in education, more than one-third of the schools under his control fail to meet the minimum standards of our state and of our country. Indeed, these 640 school risk forced closure by the state if they do not improve.

Our state's Board of Regents Chancellor, Merryl Tisch said the state’s new list of troubled schools offers more proof of the city school system’s dismal performance.

“This is just further evidence – as if we needed any – that we must move forward to reform our schools and change what is happening in our classrooms,” said Tisch, adding: “If student performance doesn’t improve, schools must be held accountable.”

Indeed, only 21% of New York City high school students graduate in four years prepared for college.

The Mayor's response was even more troubling than the damning assessment by New York State.

Mayoral control under Bloomberg has been a Mayoral tragedy of enormous proportions, and the Mayor seems to have abandoned any efforts to improve the situation. While his approach continues to destroy the futures of many talented young people in our city, the Mayor is focused on redefining his failed performance as "good enough" for our youth. Our youth deserve better.